Pence talks tax cuts in Minneapolis

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Update on America’s renewed greatness.Chris Graves and Mark Zdechlik at MPR News are covering Vice President Mike Pence’s speech in Minneapolis on Wednesday: “Speaking for about half an hour, [Pence] praised Minnesota Republicans who had preceded him on the platform, including U.S. Reps. Tom Emmer, Erik Paulsen and Jason Lewis. He thanked Paulsen for helping pass the Trump agenda, ‘and we couldn’t be more grateful.’ He also lauded Lewis and Emmer, noting that Emmer was helping efforts to ‘protect and explore’ precious metals deposits in Minnesota.”

Poison in the well. Paul Walsh at the Star Tribune has a piece on Lake Elmo shutting down a well and a water tower, and why they may never return to service: “Officials in the Washington County suburb cited newly acquired information from state health officials about excess levels of perfluorochemical (PFC) in taking offline well No. 1 and water tower No. 1 on Tuesday… The state and Twin Cities-based 3M Co. settled a lawsuit last month for $850 million over the company’s discharge of the PFCs into the groundwater covering 100 square miles in the county for many years.”

Really roughing it.Lisa Kaczke from the Duluth News Tribune reports on the dilapidated conditions at Jay Cooke State Park: “If visitors to Jay Cooke State Park want to use an indoor restroom, they’re out of luck. The only choices now are a port-a-potty or an outhouse. The park’s water line was damaged in October, leaving it without running water. But it’s not the only repair needed at the park — the shower-and-restroom building is too small for the 83-site campground, the Oldenburg Point picnic shelter’s deteriorating roof has shingles falling off and the Oldenburg Point restroom building still hasn’t been restored since the 2012 flood.”

Going clear.Joey Peters of City Pages strolls through downtown St. Paul’s 82,000-square-foot Church of Scientology building, finding it pretty empty: “The Twin Cities church has cited its regional membership at 10,000. Former members say that’s an amalgamation of everyone who’s ever bought a Scientology book, took a personality test, or stopped by the church out of curiosity and wrote their name down on a visitors list … Suzanne recalls only seeing about 20 people consistently taking classes during her 10 years with the church. ‘But they kept telling us there were thousands.'”

No mulligan for CSC. KSTP reports the company that provided security for the 2016 Ryder Cup in Minnesota will not be allowed to do further business in the state: “KSTP has learned that the Contemporary Services Corporation was not licensed during the two busiest days of the event. The revelation came on Tuesday morning when a representative of CSC came before a state regulatory board to apply for a new license.”